Crimson Embrace - Ch. 7+8

Chapter 7: The First Ambush


A woman screamed in the distance while a werewolf took a huge bite into her spouse's flesh.  The blood flew in many directions, the man screaming in agony as life was quickly sucked away by the brute.  The woman cried bitterly.
The woman soon dissolved into mist as she weeped in dispair, and as she decayed into thin air the werewolf came into clearer view.  As the last of the vapour vanished the monster came running towards Mikara, who was watching the entire scene, standing in horror of what she had saw…
"Wake up, God damn it!"
Mikara woke up and saw Bikuroko, fully dressed.  She drew back her blanket up to her neck.
"I'm not going to attack you, okay?" Bikuroko said, annoyed.  He snatched the blanket from Mikara's small fists.
"By the way you pulled my blanket away from me, it looked like you were," she cursed.
She saw Bikuroko's hand close into a fist, and opened again.  Closed, and opened.  He did this five times with a glare in his eyes.
"You should have just shook me awake."
"Like this?" he took Mikara's blanket and shook it in the air violently.
Mikara rolled her eyes and got up, picking up her boots and grabbing her cloak out the door.  Bikuroko shouted after her but she never turned back.  He was a horrible boy, enough to be considered to be Hagisha's King, so rude and so cruel and so… torturous.  One look into his eyes and she'd feel a sudden hatred towards him.
Leaving the temple she expected to see people working, but this wasn't the case.  Instead she saw a pack of wolves, enclosing families into death.
Bikuroko came out running and saw these wolves, and very calmly he asked, "They're after us, are they?"
Mikara nodded slowly.  "Yes they are."
At these words five or six hounds came out pouncing onto the steps.  Mikara and Bikuroko pulled out their swords and slashed the brutes.
Several dogs were already retreating, others just stood on guard.  However, some just advanced without thinking; Mikara and Bikuroko took out each and every one of these wolves until every one of them were gone.  What was left of them was the blood on the ground and on the warriors.
Cheering, the crowd shouted and raised their fists in the air, children just following the adults, not knowing what really happened because of their small size.
The elders who were in long red and gold robes showed them a place where they could get rid of the blood, just a pathway leading into the forest.  It was the village's bathing location, considered to be royalty to most.
Mikara hesitated to get into the cold yet pure water.  Bikuroko, however, did not bother to wait, so he pulled off his cloak, shirt, and shoes and just jumped into the water, splashing water at his contender.
"Just get into the pool!"
It was a blazing hot day.  All Mikara did was remove her cloak and shoes, but did nothing else.
Annoyed, Bikuroko got out of the pool while Mikara was gazing at a fluttering white butterfly and picked her up, despite her screaming.  Then he dumped her into the deep pool while he rested on the shallow end.
"Are you trying to drown me?!" she spluttered.
"That would be a good idea," Bikuroko smiled, and rushed off to dunk her head into the water.
Moving back, her head bobbed on the surface with an irritated look on her face.  Getting out of the pool of water with the only hazard of Bikuroko following her, she put on her boots and cloak, hoping that the sun would dry her off.  She sneezed, while Bikuroko said "Curse you," with a twisted smile on his face.
They returned to the village where they had dinner, of gigantic orange carrots and rabbit.  Bikuroko muttered that he didn't like eating rabbits, especially rabbit's foot when it was supposed to give you good luck when carried around, not in your stomach.
After being full for the first time in years, Mikara went to her room and had nothing but her shirt and rolled up pants to look out into the full moon.  Werewolves normally transform on these very nights…
She was still pondering when Bikuroko came into the room, threw his cloak onto her head, but she didn't notice.
Strange how dreams can try to tell something to you in a cryptic way.  Was this dream a prediction of today?  Was the killer werewolf the captain of the pack?  Or was it simply just a dream to throw her off track?
But still, the way the man was murdered, having his blood spill all over the ground while his love cried so bitterly for him…
Love.  It was the key to failure and trickery.  She remembered it so well.  She loved her parents, but her last words to her family weren't what you would call positive.  It was betrayal, and she was scared of having such an emotion again.  Hence, she built up her protective shield against everyone, including her best friend…
She hated that feeling of love.  It was a sure sign of death.
She shuddered.  Love was a curse.  Seeing death was one thing.  Feeling it, was another story.


Chapter 8: Lonely Thoughts


Mikara made sure she woke up before Bikuroko could start acting as her alarm clock.  He was louder than one, and certainly more annoying and haphazard than one.  Mikara wished for nothing more than a huge twenty-pound mallet to bash the spikes down on his head.
The orange fireball made the sky grow pink and red.  It was sure to be a beautiful day and less likely to rain.  It almost looked like sunset, or the world on fire; it was becoming autumn now, and leaves were occasionally orange and fell, floating back and forth, back and forth.  The trunk and barks of the trees were like standing ashes in contrast to the tumbling leaves.  The autumn air never smelled so sweet back home.
She sighed and took a walk into the forest, perhaps just to look at the stream where Bikuroko and Mikara soaked themselves and washed the blood away.  And there she was; she was already there, at the lake.  It was a dark blue in the shallow region, and in the deeper part of the water, the bottom looked like it would never end.
Taking off her boots and hooded cape, she dived into the unfathomable end, thinking…
What was the meaning of life?  Sure, everyone has given a thought to it once in a while, but really - who thought of it more than Mikara did?  It ran in the family, but only Mikara pondered about it more than any of her other family members.
But now she had none.  Several of her relatives had been vacationing and drowned while on a cruise ship, but Mikara was only five then.  Others have died of incurable diseases.  And the rest died in the accident, her only family and survivors, were gone.  Now the only one left standing in the Shinjiko family was Mikara.  Only she could keep the family blood going - otherwise the dynasty was completely wiped out.
But who would be there to guide Mikara through the dangerous path that belonged to life, controlled by time?  There was no going back, never.
A green trout swam by, followed by a guppy.
Suddenly, she remembered that she needed air, so she swam up to the surface and took a gasp of cool air.  Having enough of her thoughts, she got out of the pool, shivering, pulled on her boots on her wet feet and seized her cloak.  She dried herself in the cape and bumped into someone she didn't want to meet right now.
"There you are.  Where the hell were you?"
Ignoring him, she walked on back to the village.  At the moment she didn't feel like speaking, even if she had to.  And she didn't need to speak to Bikuroko, let alone wanting to speak to him.
Bikuroko deliberately knocked into Mikara, nearly forcing her to fall on the ground.  He kept on marching to where Mikara was on her way to.
Perhaps it was Mikara's imagination, but she thought that she was glad that Bikuroko was at least there to accompany her on such a dangerous journey home.